“His Most Important Book”–D.N.B.
Miscellanea Analytica de Seriebus et Quadraturis...
Several woodcut diagrams in the text. 6 p.l., 250 pp., one leaf of errata. Large 4to, cont. calf (two corners a bit worn), double gilt fillet round sides, spine gilt, morocco lettering piece on spine. London: J. Tonson & J. Watts, 1730.
[bound with]:
—. [Drop-title]: Miscellaneis Analyticis Supplementum. 22 pp., one leaf of errata. N.p.: n.d.
First edition of the de Moivre’s “most important book” (D.N.B.), here bound with the rare Supplementum which is very often missing. The Miscellanea Analytica is the successor to The Doctrine of Chances and contains the first formulation of “De Moivre’s Theorem,” the formula for determining a normal approximation to a binomial distribution. This became “the most fruitful single instrument of discovery used in probability theory and statistics for the next two centuries.”–D.S.B., IX, pp. 452-53.
The Supplementum was published by de Moivre to answer criticisms made by James Stirling after the appearance of the Miscellanea.
A very nice copy from the library of Haskell F. Norman with his bookplate.
❧ Stigler, The History of Statistics, pp. 70-77.
Price: $12,500.00
Item ID: 3499
